Concetti Chiave
- Emily Bronte, along with her sisters Anne and Charlotte, was largely self-educated and published her work "Wuthering Heights" under the pseudonym Ellis Bell.
- "Wuthering Heights" centers around two houses, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and explores complex relationships and revenge.
- The novel integrates Romantic elements, with characters' passions mirroring the wild and desolate landscape, and includes Gothic features like the supernatural.
- The story contrasts opposing principles embodied by the two houses: the tumultuous nature of Wuthering Heights versus the stable life of Thrushcross Grange.
- Bronte's narrative style uses dramatic irony and a complex structure with dual narrators to create suspense and depth.
Indice
- Life and works of Emily Bronte
- Plot of Wuthering Heights
- Romantic elements in the novel
- Opposing principles in the novel
- The style of the novel
- The theme of death
Life and works of Emily Bronte
Emily(1818), Anne, Charlotte were the children of an Anglican clergy man, and lived an isolated life on the Yorkshire’s moors, because their mother had died soon afeter Anne’s birth. They were self-educated, reading widely from their father’s and the public library. In the 1839 Emily traveled to Brussels, Belgium, with her sister, to study at the Pensionnat Heger. Like many female writer Emily decided to use a pseudonyms, it was under the pen name of Ellis Bell that Emily published her novel Wuthering Heights.

Plot of Wuthering Heights
The novel revolves around two houses: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, respectively inhabited by the Earnshaws and the Lintons. At the beginning of the story Mr Lockwood the tenant of Thrushcross Grange calls on him Mr Heathcliff, the landlord of Wuthering Heights. Forced to stay for the night, he had a strange dream, a young girl Catherine, who is tapping on his window asking to be let. When he returned to Thrushcross Grange he asked the story to Nelly, the housekeeper that started to narrate.
Mr Earnshaw, father of Hindley and Catherine, returned from Liverpool with a foundling, Heathcliff. Hindley ill-treated him, instead Catherine got on very weel with him. Catherine and Heathcliff promised to stay together. Catherine was bitten by Linton’s dog and forced to stay five weeks at Thrushcross Grange were she met Isabella and Edgar. She married Edgar and she say to Nelly that the soul of Heathcliff is already of her and she couldn’t marry Heathcliff because his social position. Heathcliff heard only the second part of her speech and escaped. He returned after three years rich, handsome and determinated to get his reverenge. He got the possession of Wuthering Heights and he elope with Isabella. Cathering died giving birth to her doughter Caty who was forced by Heathliff to merry his son Hareton. They married and Heathcliff become the owner of Thrushcross Grange.
Romantic elements in the novel
Contemporary were disappointed with the cruel details of the story and the lack of moral. The spirit of Romanticism and its concern with human soul are still present in the correspondence between passions of the characters and the wild landscape. The desolate scenery, the storms reflected the psychological conflict of the characters. Heathcliff is a sort of Byronic hero, moved by irresistible passion and solitary life. There is also the representation of rural life and the supernatural elements typical of the Gothic novel.
Opposing principles in the novel
The novel is built around the contrast between the two houses where the action take place. Wuthering Heights reflects the nature of Heathcliff who owns it: severe,gloomy, and brutal, like the atmosphere. Thrushcross Grange, the house of the bourgeoisLintons represents their conception of life based on stability. The principle of storm and energy on the one hand, and the principle of calm and settled assurance on the other. With the marriage between Hareton and Cathy, they will compose an harmony.
The style of the novel
Brontemakes use of dramatic irony. The narrative mode is a system of Chinese boxes, a concentric system of narratives. But the structure is never concentric: it employs two major narrators, male and female, outsider and insider. Mr Lockwood, the polite visitor from the city is the outsider, Nelly is the insider. This complex structure make a sense of suspance.
The theme of death
Like Blake the theme of death is very important in the novel. Unlike the other novels of the Victorian age in which dead is a moment of forgiveness, in Wuthering Heights death is not and end but the liberation of the spirit.
Domande da interrogazione
- ¿Cuál es el trasfondo de la vida de Emily Brontë y cómo influyó en su obra?
- ¿Cuál es la trama principal de "Cumbres Borrascosas"?
- ¿Qué elementos románticos y góticos se encuentran en "Cumbres Borrascosas"?
- ¿Cómo se contrastan los principios opuestos en la novela?
- ¿Cómo se aborda el tema de la muerte en "Cumbres Borrascosas"?
Emily Brontë, junto con sus hermanas Anne y Charlotte, fue hija de un clérigo anglicano y vivió una vida aislada en los páramos de Yorkshire. Se educaron a sí mismas leyendo ampliamente. Emily viajó a Bruselas para estudiar y publicó su novela "Cumbres Borrascosas" bajo el seudónimo de Ellis Bell.
La novela se centra en dos casas, Cumbres Borrascosas y La Granja de los Tordos, habitadas por los Earnshaw y los Linton. La historia comienza con el Sr. Lockwood, quien tiene un sueño extraño en Cumbres Borrascosas y luego escucha la historia de Heathcliff y Catherine a través de Nelly, la ama de llaves.
La novela incorpora el espíritu del Romanticismo con su enfoque en el alma humana y la correspondencia entre las pasiones de los personajes y el paisaje salvaje. También presenta elementos sobrenaturales y una representación de la vida rural, características típicas de la narrativa gótica.
La novela se construye alrededor del contraste entre Cumbres Borrascosas, que refleja la naturaleza severa y brutal de Heathcliff, y La Granja de los Tordos, que representa la estabilidad de los Linton. Estos principios opuestos de tormenta y energía frente a calma y seguridad se armonizan con el matrimonio de Hareton y Cathy.
En "Cumbres Borrascosas", la muerte no es un final sino una liberación del espíritu, diferenciándose de otras novelas victorianas donde la muerte es un momento de perdón. Este enfoque resalta la importancia del tema de la muerte en la obra de Brontë.